Broken Dreams
by adventuresinstorybrooke
Summary: One-shot. Emma finds her parents after the curse is broken. But something happens that shatters her hopes for the encounter. Based on a dream I had last night. Charming Family Reunion not exactly happy .


**I had a dream last night, and I felt like writing it down in a fic really fast. This is seriously what my head creates during this horrible hiatus.**

Her parents. She could see them, racing across the sidewalk, and crashing into old friends. Their faces were so alight with happiness. If only she could feel the same.

Emma's heart pounded in her ears and she pressed forward, not allowing herself to over-think the situation, inevitably leading to her running away. She refused to run anymore, despite how greatly she feared the impending moment. She hadn't truly realized how much the constant moving had worn on her, until she found a place of stability in Storybrooke; with her mother.

Her _mother_. In her thoughts, the word felt like milk. It moved smoothly across her inner eye, and she tried her best to associate it with the woman she had spent months growing to know, to care for, to hold in heart. She had almost started to feel love towards her, but she had spend too long disappointing her, coming up short of what she had the potential to be.

The hurt and sadness in her mother's eyes was unbearable to look at, and yet they had come through so much. But now she would be a different person, as would her father. They would no longer be just friends or acquaintances. They'd be attached by a biological bond, and that was what frightened Emma the most. Now there was no way that she could ever leave, she couldn't walk away and have to watch their faces twist in agony as she departed in the night.

She was so close now, she could seem them through the cloud of her thoughts, she could feel the warm hand of her son, held tightly in her own as she dragged him along swiftly. She was picking up pace, it was almost impossible to control herself. She wanted to be loved, for the to hold her. She had hated them for so long, but in her wildest dreams she never would have imagined that she was abandoned for the sake of her own safety. So much time had been lost. But now time was on their side.

She came up behind them, in a crowd seemingly including Red, Granny, and seven other men. They chattered excitedly until Emma broke the conversations.

"Hey," she uttered, suddenly nervous. Snow turned around, followed by James, and they stared at Emma with an overwhelming look.

Of nothing. Their faces didn't even register a single positive emotion. Instead, their brows furrowed slightly in confusion.

Snow finally spoke, "Oh I'm so sorry dear, do…do we know you? You must look incredibly different in this world."

The words she uttered reflected the same as what James was obviously thinking. Emma staggered back, her chest suddenly tight, and she could feel hot tears burning at her cheeks. "You don't…?" she squeaked.

Suddenly she released her son's hand, the picture of her parents closed off as she shut her eyes, and she ran. It was all wrong, they didn't know her. She had been forgotten. She was _never_ loved.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open, but she wasn't outside anymore. She was in a room, but the air was foggy and everything was skewed through a slightly purple haze. She began to feel the presence of another body, much smaller than her own, clutching to her waist.

The air soon became clear, and a pair of shining eyes looked up at her. She smiled down, still lost slightly in the confusion of the moment. And then it clicked. The haze, the fog. She had seen it barreling toward them, and now it was gone. Whatever had happened in between couldn't have been real.

Henry, jumped quickly and she felt him pull her arm and she lurched in his direction. "Come on," he begged, "We have to go find your parents!"

**I hope you liked it. I added Emma 'waking up' so that it would have a happy ending. In my dream, Snow and Charming never figured it out :(**

**Other note. I have started on an AU Emma and MM fic, that I will post in a couple weeks. I want to get a large chunk of it written before I post. I'm really liking it so I hope you will too. Plus I have an AWESOME beta, 7Seven7.**


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